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Edible garden is sustainable, tasty

Landscaper Rae Schnapp talks planting elderberry and currant, two of many options in easy-to-grow, edible plants that look good in your yard

Wei-Huan Chen
1:43 p.m. EDT June 2, 2014

Rae Schnapp talks about turning a traditional garden space into a garden featuring edible plant May 27 at Unitarian Universalist Church in West Lafayette. Schnapp and other members of the church are planting a variety of edible plants around the church building.
(Photo:
John Terhune/Journal & Courier
)

Now is the perfect time to consider edible landscaping. It's a way to grow your food not in a traditional vegetable patch — sequestered in the back yard, lined in neat rows — but out front and proud.

Unlike foraging, which can be an occasional fun and productive venture into the woods, edible landscaping blends the aesthetically minded design of an ornamental garden with the sustainability of micro-scale farming. Strawberries and apple trees are a brilliant sight when fully grown, as are elderberries, juneberries and red kale.

With gardening season in full bloom, consider reclaiming the space around your home in a way that a vegetable patch or flower bed can't. An option for urban and suburban homeowners alike, the practice also benefits the local food and water infrastructure, advocates say.

Edible landscaping "is beautiful and makes our community more sustainable," said Rae Schnapp, a local landscaper and wildlife aficionado. On a recent summery afternoon, Schnapp leads a small team of volunteers to dig out old shrubs in front of the Unitarian Universalist Church in West Lafayette, replacing them with edible, brightly colored and beautifully patterned trees and shrubs.

With her right hand, Schnapp holds up an elderberry shrub, which has pointed purple leaves and bright pink clusters of flowers that shake in the wind like tiny bobbleheads. A golden-green variety bounces in her other hand. Placing the two colors together, she creates a deep-purple-on-chartreuse pattern that puts to shame most color designs found in a regular front yard garden.

But the elderberry, Schnapp explains, isn't just a pretty plant. It's food. With the help of her fellow volunteers, she bends down to cultivate what will eventually produce small, black, tart and antioxidant-filled berries, which she plans to make into jam, pie, or juice.

The Indiana-native shrub, sold at local nurseries like Bennett's, is an attractive, resilient, healthy, tasty and less toxic alternative to front lawns. Compared to a grass lawn — which Americans spend an estimated $40 billion a year to maintain — a front yard with elderberry and other edible plants requires less water, eliminates the need for a gas-gobbling mower and provides a source of food that's local and organic.

And while Unitarian Universalist Church Rev. Charlie Davis describes edible landscaping as a "lost art," it's a practice that can start as simply as replacing one unwanted shrub with an herb.

Plant colorful edibles like red Russian kale or tricolor variegated sage among flowers and other shrubs, interspersing different colors in patterns that make sense for the existing landscape. Asparagus grows surprisingly tall in the summer. After the spring harvest season, watch them shoot up to past waist level with elegant, wispy foliage.

"Just follow the same principals of plant placement for creating a flowered landscape," said Ian Thompson, founder of Tippecanoe Urban Farmers, a collective that promotes and cultivates sustainable food yards in Greater Lafayette. "It's a worthwhile endeavor because of the quality of food, the exercise and the fortification of the local food infrastructure."

Thompson is partial to honeyberries, a honeysuckle relative. The elongated, dark blue fruit of honeyberries is an excellent ingredient in homemade bread and a mineral-rich topping on vanilla ice cream and yogurt. He also delights in gooseberries, a currant relative.

Juneberry is easier to grow than the blueberry, and they're just as tasty, albeit with an added almond flavor from the seed. You can pluck the berries right off the tree and eat as is or sprinkle in cereal. Take your most trusted blueberry pie recipe and use juneberry as a substitute, or crush them up and heat it in a saucepan with sugar and lemon juice to make jam.

Some more local native plants that look and taste good: Paw paw, or "Hoosier banana," can be scooped out with a spoon and enjoyed raw, or incorporated into sorbets and muffins. Rhubarb is a no-brainer around these parts — crisp, tart or pies are a sure hit at potlucks.

Here's an idea the kids can get behind: The Unitarian Universalist Church is growing a pizza garden, a collection of basil, tomatoes and peppers that allows the church to teach its youth groups about growing your own food.

The plan is to have a pizza party at the end of the summer — fun, tasty and everything grown locally.

"The idea is to learn to be connected to the Earth," Davis said. "And we see it as part of being holy. For Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson, having that relationship with nature was a big part of spirituality."

Schnapp and her church are two years into a "green sanctuary" initiative, which aims to reduce the church's environmental footprint. Those efforts dovetailed nicely with an ethical eating initiative when Schnapp and other volunteers decided to convert the church's outdoor landscape into an edible one.

Like any type of gardening, edible landscaping can get complicated. Elements to consider: shade, design, taste, resilience of the plants, soil, staking, pruning, weeding and protection from insects and animals. There are probably too many options to begin with, from planting a tree for the long term, to cultivating an herb garden or alternative methods like straw bale gardens, a popular way to create a weed-free, raised bed garden.

But possibility is a virtue. Novices and experienced gardeners looking for a greener garden can start with online resources or the local library. Tippecanoe County Public Library currently features several gardening books. Tippecanoe Urban Farmers, found online at www.facebook.com/TUFarmers, serves as consultants for local edible landscapers.